Three Restaurants in Madrid, Spain for Your Dining Pleasure
Mediterraneo is rice dish heaven!
This chain of restaurants is located around several spots in Madrid, but I want to feature the one I ate at, which is centrally located. They offer up some great Spanish paella dishes, and many selections of dry and stewed rice entrees. Mediterraneo also serves up some tasty salads and dishes that contain chicken, meat, and fish.
For appetizers, the Chopitos (Calamari) can’t be beat. It’s very crunchy and tasty. Try the Tuna and Tomato Salad (de Tomate y Ventresca) before the main course. It tastes especially good when you put some olive oil on it! As for the rice dishes, I feasted on the Paella Mixta Ciega (filled with dry rice, chicken, and shrimp). The rice was cooked just right and had a really excellent flavor.
End your Madrid dining experience here with a coffee and a Tarta de Queso con Arandanos; that is, the blueberry cheesecake!
The only drawback I found at this restaurant is that the dining chairs are very hard. They could use some cushions!
Mediterraneo: Calle Zurbano, 45. Madrid, Spain. Telephone: (34) 91-702-21-86. Nearest Madrid Metro subway stop is Ruben Dario.
Tukilibela Offers Up Senegalese Cuisine
Tukilibela is a must-eat for those who desire African cuisine while in Madrid. It’s been open since 2004, and the name means “traveling to new horizons”, according to the owner, whose name is Kumba. She works very hard to provide patrons the best in Senegalese cuisine for both lunch and dinner, employing African cooks to prepare the dishes. Well, eating here was like a new horizon for me, as I’d never savored African cuisine before. The dining atmosphere is really peaceful, as we were surrounded by rust-toned colored walls with Senegalese artifacts and pictures hanging on them. Some of the plantlife there didn’t even have any leaves, just like some in the African Savannah-lands.
For starters, my two friends and I ate the Patatas Specy, which are fried potato wedges that are sprinkled with Tukilibela’s own special blend of herbs and spices, and are accompanied by some really delicious spicy tartar sauce for dunking the wedges in. They served up a sizeable portion, which was good, because they are very addictive indeed!
For your dinner drink, savor the Bissap Tea, which is a sweet hibiscus delight. This goes well with Senegalese dining.
Tukilibela serves up meat, fish, rice, and Senegalese house dishes for the main courses. We tried three different ones. The Maffe was a beef dish that was cooked in a creamy and smooth tomato and peanut sauce. The Stiw was made up of cod in a spicy tomato sauce�it left a very strong taste on my palate. The Pollo a la Diabla (Chicken of the Devil) was quite a treat indeed. I enjoyed its Mesquite-like taste, and it was very tender. The rice that came with our entrees was sticky and crunchy, but had a very mild and agreeable taste.
We had some after dinner refreshments; that is, the Caf�© Touba, which is a very strong but mild-tasting coffee. Some grounds were left in the cup for extra flavor.
You might even be lucky enough to get some shots of two African specialties on the house. First, we sipped a Pacharan/Anis (licorice) drink with a blueberry Ny-Quil type taste. Lastly, we tried the Hiertas-Orujo (herbal) concoction that could be best described as a grape-skin moonshine: very strong tasting indeed.
One of the things travelers will learn is that in a place like Madrid, many restaurants don’t offer containers or “doggie bags” to take dining leftovers away. This was the case at Tukilibela.
Tukilibela: Calle Murillo 4. Madrid, Spain. Telephone: (34) 91-444-03-13. Nearest Madrid Metro Subway stop is Iglesias.
Annapurna: A real taste of India!
Annapurna is considered one of Madrid’s best Indian dining restaurants. When you enter the restaurant, you’ll feel as if you are in Mother India, given the light brown, earth-toned walls and Indian motif embellishing the atmosphere. This is a great place for romantic lunches and dinners, too, because of the tranquil atmosphere that the establishment emanates, despite all the hustle and bustle going on.
The name of this Madrid dining establishment means “food of the gods”. Annapurna’s food is prepared by native chefs, and really tastes authentic to the spirit of Indian cooking.
When you arrive at the table, some thin wafers called Papadom will be awaiting you, as well as some chutney sauces to dip them in. For appetizers, Annapurna has a fine selection of lamb, chicken, and fish dishes. We began with the Sheek Kabab; that is, a lamb kebab that was sizzling from being cooked in a clay oven. These treats had a very spicy but smooth flavor, and were one of the best starter dishes I’ve ever had.
The main dishes feature yet more varied selections of chicken, lamb, fish/shellfish, and vegetable curries, none of which you can go wrong with. I had the Murgh Korma, which is a Mogul dish of boneless chicken pieces that swim in a mild and creamy almond sauce. This dish left a very agreeable and smooth aftertaste in my mouth.
Rice is served with the Annapurna main courses, and we choose the Kashmiri Pulao, a kind of Saffron rice whose even and light texture had me wanting seconds and thirds! As for bread, Annapurna’s Nan (Indian for bread) with cheese has an absolutely excellent flavor, and is very soft and chewable.
For desserts, we went light with two varieties of Lassi, which is a yogurt drink. Annapurna offers three kinds of them: plain, salty, and sweet. The plain one tasted like a light buttermilk concoction with a trace of saltiness. The Sweet Lassi experience emulated for me the times when I’ve had a yogurt shake in the good ol’ USA.
Annapurna offers a fine selection of red, rose, sparkling, and white wines, as well as champagne for the dining pleasure of the patrons, too.
While Annapurna offers menus in both Spanish and English (which advise you to ask about the Daily Special), you can get acquainted with some Spanish dining terms you’ll need to be familiar with when ordering elsewhere:
Aperitivos = Starters/Appetizers
Pollo = Chicken
Cordero = Lamb
Pescado = Fish
Verdura = Vegetables
Arroces = Rice
Pan = Bread
Postres = Desert
Annapurna: Calle Zurbano 5. Madrid, Spain. Telephone: (34) 91-319-87-16 (this number is good for takeaway service, too) or (34) 91-308-32-49. Nearest Madrid Metro Subway Stop is Alonso Martinez.
